On Saturday my family and I drove 3 hours north to Chesterfield VA to Pocahontas State park for the Pretty Muddy Womens obstacle race. It was a perfect day! The weather was about 70 with bright blue skies. We had to drive on some back state roads to get to the park, which made me a little car sick, but overall it was a smooth drive. We got there around noon to check in, even though the family wave was at 1pm. There were plenty of parking spots available-I think because most of the women had already run for the day-but the parking attendants weren’t very informative as to where to park and what to do. We had to turn around twice because we didn’t know which was the start park entrance and which entrance was for the Pretty Muddy Race.
I checked myself (and my hubby and son) in the “Pretty Muddy Bloggers” check in section; got our bib numbers and we were all set! There wasn’t anything to do for 45 minutes so we walked around, took pictures, used the bathroom and sat on the grass to relax. Pretty Muddy had set up tents for the volunteers, merchandise, changing tent and water hose cleaning station. It was very organized and clean.
The last race for the day was at 1pm, which happened to be the only family wave. Pretty Muddy added the family wave option a couple weeks ago, which I thought was a really fun idea!! You can either run during the “women only” race waves with your gal pals, or run with you husband and kids during the family wave. I was able to get a race ticket for myself, hubby and son complimentary since I was chosen to be a Pretty Muddy Blogger this year. (Thank you Heather!)
At exactly 1pm, our race started. We ended up jogging on flat-trail like terrain. Some of the road had sand, some of it had rocks and dirt. They said the trails were usually used as Horse trails there at the state park. The first obstacle we came to was a big inflatable that you run through and bubbles were blowing on you, almost like a car wash. That was fun-I only got a little wet on my legs. My mother in law and 3 year old were there at the first station to wave at us and take pictures. (Thank you Gloria for spending the whole day with us and babysitting!)
The next obstacle was climbing up a giant inflatable and sliding down the water slide into a pool of mud. Ugh. There was no turning back. My shoes were wet and muddy, along with my lower half. I at least tried to keep my upper half and head dry from water and mud.
I had made a personal goal to do EVERY obstacle no matter what –even though I didn’t know what any of the obstacles were like. It was a lot of fun doing it with my family. It took me the first couple obstacles to start having fun because I did not enjoy all the dirt and mud on me but once I got over that and realized I was already dirty and I could get cleaned up later-I was fine. My hubby thoroughly enjoyed rolling and jumping into the mud-he was a big fan!!
Once of the obstacles (pictured below) was a HUGE rope climbing thing. I did good going up it, but it took me a little bit to maneuver my body around to be able to get back down. I was a little afraid I would miss my step and fall through the ropes onto the ground and hurt myself. A couple other obstacles were climbing up and back down wooden fences. I was fine with the mud because it was like a thick mulch mud. Towards the end, there was another obstacle that I had to “swim” under the wooden fence and the mud was SO wet and soupy. I hesitated and totally cringed when my foot sunk into the mud up over my ankles. Ugh it was such a gross soggy feeling. I am such a girl! LOL I had made it that far and had done every obstacle-I wasn’t going to quit now! I plopped down on my hands and knees cringing and went under the barrier. At that point I was still able to keep my neck and up clean which was nice because I really didn’t want to get mud on my face and hair. My hubby and son were throwing mud at each other and flopping around like pigs-it was so funny!
The walking in between the courses was nice; like I said it was all fairly flat and was shaded a lot because of all the trees. I walked most of it with some light jogging because I didn’t have my inhaler or water bottle with me.
The last obstacle was like the one before it-very very watery soupy mud. I saw my toddler standing there waiting for us so I went over to say hi before plunging into the last obstacle. He did not know what to make of me when he saw how dirty I was. I think he was a little concerned. I got through the last obstacle and had fun posing for muddy pictures. The volunteers met us at the end with water, snack bar and a medal! I love my medal-totally wasn’t expecting it! I should also add that there were 3 or 4 water stations throughout the obstacle course and every course had some Pretty Muddy Volunteers taking pictures and helping to make sure people were safe.
After taking several pictures, we went over to the water hose station to clean off. It easily took us 30 minutes to get cleaned off enough to walk to our car and get changed. It is very hard hosing off shoes and clothes from mud! My boys had a blast hosing themselves off-as much fun as doing the race. I love doing things with them, because they make everything fun! After changing and packing up the truck, we headed back home to Roanoke.
It was such a fun (And Pretty Muddy!!) day there at the State Park. I’m grateful I was chosen as a blogger so that we could experience the family Pretty Muddy experience. If you get the chance to attend one close to you, you won’t regret it!! The race was very organized with lots of volunteers to help with people shuttling to their cars, water stations, music, check in, etc. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever run a Pretty Muddy race and where. Hope you enjoy all the pictures for my race! I took alot! 🙂
At the State Park!
It was a little chilly so my toddler (who was sick) wanted to wear my Pretty Muddy sweatshirt.
My husband and I.
My husband, 11 year old son and I.
Family pic! getting ready to go check in.
Tractor shuttles to the starting line.
It actually fit our jogging stroller. It was nice to get a ride.
My mother in law came with us to help babysit and take pictures.
At the race!
I had a special check in line! 🙂
Taking pictures before the race before we get dirty.
Walking around taking pictures before the race started.
Hanging around before the race started.
And we’re off!! You can see my son in the red shirt in the far back left.
The first obstacle!!
My husband had a blast in the bubbles!
So did my toddler.
Approaching the finish line.
He did not want to touch me because I was so dirty.
Hesitating about the last obstacle.
My husband just jumped and rolled in it… ugh…
okay… here I go!
PRETTY MUDDY!!
Getting our medals at the finish line.
Getting cleaned up.
A little cold and waiting for our ride after getting cleaned up.
All dry and ready to head home.
Fitness, Family & Book blogger. Certified Group Fitness Instructor, Active Aging and Silver Sneakers Coach. Walking Coach. Certified Nutrition Coach. Teaching fitness classes for all levels of fitness and ages since 2015. ✨Empower & Inspire✨
